Two new Austinites exploring all things delicious that the city has to offer.

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Quality Seafood

A long-standing Austin tradition, Quality Seafood Market (motto: "Selling Our Sole Seven Days a Week") has been serving Austin's freshest seafood in a laid-back atmosphere since the 1930's.

Because of its location and value, it is rapidly becoming an every-week spot for us. They'll probably know us by name by the end of the year.

Like many Austin favorites, you wouldn't know it by looking at it, and you'd probably drive by it 100 times and not give it a second thought, if it weren't for the hoards of people packed in every night.

The premise is simple, if not unique. Go up to the counter and order any number of fresh seafood dishes, then either take it to go or sit down at a table and chow away. Or instead, get your fish directly from the adjacent fish market and go home and cook it yourself. Han and I have gone both routes, and can vouch for great experiences either way.

When dining in, Quality Seafood's biggest asset is just that: the quality of their seafood. The dishes they serve are exactly the same dishes you've had a hundred times over: fried clams, blackened salmon, peel-n-eat shrimp. There is nothing necessarily remarkable about these dishes except the shrimp are exceptionally savory, the salmon especially delectable, and the fried seafood is the best fried anything you've ever had.

In fact, though it goes against our recent goal of trying to eat healthy, the fried shrimp and the fried clams are what has kept us coming back week after week. Lightly battered and equally lemony and buttery, Quality Seafood's frying process definitely enhances the taste and flavor of their seafood instead of masking it. Something you definitely won't get at Long John Silver.

Also right now is a great time to visit Quality Seafood if you are a fan of oysters on the half shell. Imported straight from the gulf, you can get some of the biggest oysters in town for a very reasonable price. See above.

Quality Seafood also has great specials Monday through Thursday with huge discounts on certain dishes and beers, but even if you can't make it then, their non-happy hour beer is still so cheap ($2.50 domestics) that you can't lose either way.

But the best part about Quality Seafood is the staff. Everyone there from the bartenders to the busboys are incredibly chummy and very friendly and helpful to everyone from regulars to first-timers.

Quality Fun Fact: The most famous employee ever to work at Quality Seafood is none other than Joe Lewis, as in Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears fame. Word on the street is he used to alternate working the counter and driving the fish truck in the morning. I'm not sure if he still works there now that his band has kind of taken off, but you will still see an homage to him at the restaurant, in the form of a Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears t-shirt hanging behind the bar.

When you visit the fish market, the experience is more of the same. Sure the prices are going to be a bit higher than HEB, but everything there was caught that morning, never frozen. And with raw seafood you definitely get what you pay for. The fishmongers there are more than willing to give you their recommendations for the day, and if you have any questions about how to prepare the fish there, they are happy to help. The first time Han and I went to Quality Seafood we ordered two pounds of mussels. The fishmonger helping us personally picked through each mussel to make sure that it was still alive and that we would get no duds when we cooked them. Yeah we paid a little extra instead of going to HEB but we definitely got more of our money's worth by going to the Quality fish market.

Anyways, in conclusion, it may not be in the most convenient location in town for you (or the nicest) but definitely make it a point to come on by. Han and I will probably be there too.